Given their desperately disappointing season last year, the fact Cardiff are milling around the top six is somewhat of a surprise as well, with plenty-to-say pundit Ian Holloway claiming last week that the Welsh side are one of four teams in the mix for the final play-off spot.

With that in mind, they can’t afford too many more slip ups. But neither can Boro.

We look at reasons to be optimistic and cautious ahead of Tuesday night’s game at the Riverside.

Optimistic

Cardiff are hit and miss on their travels

Of their 16 games away from home this season, Cardiff have only managed to win four of them.

That’s the same number of victories on the road as Bristol City and Leeds and just one more than struggling Fulham and Blackburn.

Cardiff are in the bottom half of the Championship away table this season and have been reliant on their impressive home form - sixth best in the Championship - to keep pace with those in the play-off positions.

That said, they’re unbeaten in three away from home with the draw at Charlton following victories at Wolves and Huddersfield when they managed to score three times on both occasions.

Refreshed after a few days in the sun

Aitor Karanka in Marbella during pre-season

The temperatures might not have hit the heights they did in the summer but Boro will have hopefully returned from Marbella refreshed and ready to get their automatic promotion bid back on track.

The time at the Marbella Football Center - certainly nothing new for Boro - will have given the recent arrivals a prolonged period to get to know their new teammates and allowed the squad to top up their vigour ahead of the mini-season promotion run-in, starting tonight.

Painful memories for Cardiff

The “ghosts of previous fixtures loom large” wrote one Cardiff City writer ahead of the trip to Boro.

The disastrous fixture referred to wasn’t at the Riverside but it was Boro who struck a hammer blow to Cardiff’s promotion hopes back in May, 2011.

A couple of wins would have done it for the Bluebirds but Boro, buoyed and under no pressure with Mogga having led them away from the danger-zone, had other ideas.

Three goals up after 20 minutes at the Cardiff City Stadium,, Mogga’s side coasted to victory. It was a victory which proved the undoing of the Bluebirds and led to turmoil within the camp with boss Dave Jones admitting “some of the players had been out partying” in the build-up to the game.

“As Slade’s men head to Teesside this time, the stakes might not be quite as high as they were five years ago, but the Bluebirds are daring to dream once more of the Premier League,” reported WalesOnline ahead of tonight’s game.